The Red Cross has facilitated the transfer of remains to Israel, which will be sent to the country’s national forensics lab for identification purposes.

Should these remains be identified as those of the three missing Israeli hostages, it would mean that the bodies of eight hostages are still unaccounted for in Gaza.

Earlier in the weekend, Hamas returned the remains of three individuals. However, according to an Israeli official speaking on Saturday, these were not those of any known deceased hostages.

During the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu accused Hamas of attempting to mislead both Israel and the international community, including the United States.

Netanyahu assured, “These deceptive efforts will ultimately fail, and we are committed to gradually bringing all our hostages back home.”

He added that Israel is still operating against “Hamas pockets” in Rafah and Khan Younis, areas that are under IDF control, “and we are systematically eliminating them.”